EVENT DESCRIPTION

Brian Jacques was born in Liverpool, England, on June 15, 1939 and died on February 5, 2011. Since the age of 15, Jacques has held a variety of jobs including merchant sailor, firefighter, dock worker, truck driver, boxer, and even stand-up comedian! The first in his Redwall series was published in 1986, after a childhood teacher showed the story to a publisher without telling Jacques. Today, the series boasts 22 books and a number of related titles including two Tribes of Redwall books.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

After your students have read one of Brian Jacques' Redwall stories, or another fantasy novel, create a class newspaper based on the story.

As a whole class, brainstorm a list of the most interesting or significant story events and characters from the novel.

Have students work in small groups to write a newspaper story based on a specific character or event from the story. They should describe the scene or character in the style of a news article and write a descriptive headline, such as "Redwall Inhabitants in Struggle of Good vs. Evil!" (You can review the elements of a newspaper article with your students using the Creating a Classroom Newspaper lesson.)